Within the voluntary sector, it’s widely accepted that food banks are not the solution to sky-rocketing levels of income inequality and chronic poverty.
We founded the Alliance for Dignified Food Support in 2022 to support food banks to embed dignity in their practice, and since then we’ve spoken with hundreds of people across the UK who work or volunteer at, or access emergency food aid.
The issues are well documented. Being reliant on emergency food parcels has a profound impact on someone’s sense of dignity and self worth. We call this impact ‘hunger trauma’. Teams of volunteers across the country are doing an incredible job, trying to ensure that nobody in their community goes hungry.
But many food bank volunteers are burnt out and resent having to prop up a broken social security system. They are often not equipped to support people in acute crisis, and yet their roles go far beyond just handing out food and often include supporting people with complex safeguarding issues.
Similarly, there have long been calls to separate the redistribution of surplus food and poverty. Volunteers are fed up with having inedible produce dumped on them, and the idea that emergency food parcels contain items that would have otherwise gone to waste is a fallacy. Food banks spend an average of £2,000 a month on food, most of which is bought from a major supermarket, and we are seeing people begin to call out the fact that supermarkets profit from people’s hardship.
Emergency food aid is funded by local and national government, but there is no regulation, and the sector, which supports people in crisis, is staffed almost entirely by untrained volunteers. This is out of the question for any other public service.
For those of us who have worked in this sector for years, it can feel like we’re banging our heads against a brick wall. We’ve been identifying and talking about these problems for years, yet very little ever seems to change. There’s a sense of inevitability: that as long as poverty exists, food banks are a necessary cog in the wheel.
Many of us believe that food banks are not inevitable; we can do things differently. Our new campaign calls on central and local governments to do things differently. Andy Burnham opened his premiership by saying that he would end rough sleeping. We’re asking him to make another ambitious pledge to create a Food Bank Free Britain.
As an alliance, we believe that people in acute crisis should be supported by the relevant statutory services. If someone is disabled and unable to leave their home to get food – that’s a safeguarding issue that should be managed by adult social care. If someone is unable to buy enough food to feed their children, the duty of care should sit with children’s services, not a food bank. Instead, what we’re seeing is the systemic exploitation of the voluntary sector to fill gaps left by austerity.
That’s why, this week, the Alliance for Dignified Food Support (ADFS) has launched its new national campaign, Working Together For A Food Bank Free Britain, bringing together food partnerships, trade unions, community organisations and campaigners committed to ending reliance on emergency food aid.
A week of collective action began on National Food Banks Day (Friday, September 4th). The campaign is calling on central government and councils to finally take responsibility for people in crisis. The levels of food insecurity that we have seen for the past fifteen years amount to a human rights violation. It’s a direct result of government inaction or sometimes worse, cruel policies that are designed to push people into crisis and put them in a position where they have to choose between basic life essentials.
However complex and intractable it feels, we need to start from somewhere. This campaign is about having a collective voice from organisations right across the country to come together and say, enough is enough. Too often, food banks and organisations like schools have been the last line of defence for all manner of crisis and complexity. Charitable food aid, including food banks, should not be a permanent substitute for social security, housing security and properly funded public services. Because it is increasingly looking like a form of exploitation. It’s fundamentally wrong, and it doesn’t have to be this way. We can end this reliance strategically.
This September, hundreds of organisations across the UK are sending a clear message: Food banks are not an inevitable response to poverty and we must work together for change.
For more information on how to get involved, visit: https://www.alliancefordignifiedfoodsupport.org.uk/
Carl Walker is the Co-founder of the Alliance for Dignified Food Support
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Organisations from across the UK unite behind a new national campaign, calling for a ‘Food Bank Free Britain’.
by Carl Walker Sep 10, 2026Within the voluntary sector, it’s widely accepted that food banks are not the solution to sky-rocketing levels of income inequality and chronic poverty.
We founded the Alliance for Dignified Food Support in 2022 to support food banks to embed dignity in their practice, and since then we’ve spoken with hundreds of people across the UK who work or volunteer at, or access emergency food aid.
The issues are well documented. Being reliant on emergency food parcels has a profound impact on someone’s sense of dignity and self worth. We call this impact ‘hunger trauma’. Teams of volunteers across the country are doing an incredible job, trying to ensure that nobody in their community goes hungry.
But many food bank volunteers are burnt out and resent having to prop up a broken social security system. They are often not equipped to support people in acute crisis, and yet their roles go far beyond just handing out food and often include supporting people with complex safeguarding issues.
Similarly, there have long been calls to separate the redistribution of surplus food and poverty. Volunteers are fed up with having inedible produce dumped on them, and the idea that emergency food parcels contain items that would have otherwise gone to waste is a fallacy. Food banks spend an average of £2,000 a month on food, most of which is bought from a major supermarket, and we are seeing people begin to call out the fact that supermarkets profit from people’s hardship.
Emergency food aid is funded by local and national government, but there is no regulation, and the sector, which supports people in crisis, is staffed almost entirely by untrained volunteers. This is out of the question for any other public service.
For those of us who have worked in this sector for years, it can feel like we’re banging our heads against a brick wall. We’ve been identifying and talking about these problems for years, yet very little ever seems to change. There’s a sense of inevitability: that as long as poverty exists, food banks are a necessary cog in the wheel.
Many of us believe that food banks are not inevitable; we can do things differently. Our new campaign calls on central and local governments to do things differently. Andy Burnham opened his premiership by saying that he would end rough sleeping. We’re asking him to make another ambitious pledge to create a Food Bank Free Britain.
As an alliance, we believe that people in acute crisis should be supported by the relevant statutory services. If someone is disabled and unable to leave their home to get food – that’s a safeguarding issue that should be managed by adult social care. If someone is unable to buy enough food to feed their children, the duty of care should sit with children’s services, not a food bank. Instead, what we’re seeing is the systemic exploitation of the voluntary sector to fill gaps left by austerity.
That’s why, this week, the Alliance for Dignified Food Support (ADFS) has launched its new national campaign, Working Together For A Food Bank Free Britain, bringing together food partnerships, trade unions, community organisations and campaigners committed to ending reliance on emergency food aid.
A week of collective action began on National Food Banks Day (Friday, September 4th). The campaign is calling on central government and councils to finally take responsibility for people in crisis. The levels of food insecurity that we have seen for the past fifteen years amount to a human rights violation. It’s a direct result of government inaction or sometimes worse, cruel policies that are designed to push people into crisis and put them in a position where they have to choose between basic life essentials.
However complex and intractable it feels, we need to start from somewhere. This campaign is about having a collective voice from organisations right across the country to come together and say, enough is enough. Too often, food banks and organisations like schools have been the last line of defence for all manner of crisis and complexity. Charitable food aid, including food banks, should not be a permanent substitute for social security, housing security and properly funded public services. Because it is increasingly looking like a form of exploitation. It’s fundamentally wrong, and it doesn’t have to be this way. We can end this reliance strategically.
This September, hundreds of organisations across the UK are sending a clear message: Food banks are not an inevitable response to poverty and we must work together for change.
For more information on how to get involved, visit: https://www.alliancefordignifiedfoodsupport.org.uk/
Carl Walker is the Co-founder of the Alliance for Dignified Food Support